The Ryder Cup ‘Envelope Rule’ caused a stir. Another team event has a nice solution

The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black featured an unusual wrinkle.

When an injured Viktor Hovland removed himself from Sunday’s singles, the so-called ‘Envelope Rule’ came into effect. Under that agreement, each captain – Bethpage’s skippers were Keegan Bradley (USA) and Luke Donald (Europe) – submits an envelope containing a player’s name prior to the singles matches. Should a player from the opposing team withdraw due to injury or illness, the opposing team’s envelope will be revealed and the opponent’s name will also be removed from the singles matches, with each side receiving half a point.

When the rule went into effect at Bethpage, there was no shortage of disdain. One of the questions that emerged: Why should the US be punished for a European player’s inability to play? And why would a player – in this case Harris English – be denied the hard-earned opportunity to play a match at one of golf’s greatest levels? Sure, it’s good sportsmanship to split the issue, but, naysayers argued, the rule certainly needs to be reconsidered as the Ryder Cup has evolved from a friendly competition to a high-stakes, hyper-charged event where legacies are formed.

Another team event underway this week could provide the solution.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Skechers World Champions Cup, that might be because it debuted in 2023 and was canceled in 2024 due to bad weather, meaning this week’s performance – at Feather Sound CC near Tampa, Florida – is only the second edition. The event is the PGA Tour Champions’ answer to the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, with teams of 50-year-old golfers from the US, Europe and around the world playing five sessions over three days. There are six players on each side, including a playing captain, and also a pair of vice-captains.

If there’s one player in the three World Champions Cup squads you wouldn’t expect to fall prey to illness, it might be the ageless gym-eating, whole-grain wonder, Bernhard Langer. And yet, Langer started feeling under the weather last weekend (sore throat, aches, low energy), and when he arrived at Feather Sound he still didn’t feel like himself – so much so that Langer decided it was best to sit out the first day of competition on Thursday.

Each player plays each session at the World Champions Cup, so one of the event’s rules was put into effect: European captain Darren Clarke could replace Langer with one of Clarke’s two assistant captains, Søren Kjeldsen and Jesper Parnevik. Clarke chose Kjeldsen, who was in action on Thursday morning. The duo teamed up with Alex Cjeka in a nine-hole best-ball match, making six birdies and taking a session-tying best 10.5 points before collecting a further 9.5 points in the afternoon’s modified alternate shot format.

“Bernhard wasn’t great when we came here,” says Team Europe player Thomas Bjørn, who, like Kjeldsen, is from Denmark. “Søren, you could see he was getting a bit of an idea that he could play. He prepared well. I think that says a lot about him. A lot of guys would have come here as vice-captain and just wandered around and not done anything. Søren prepared as if he was going to play, and that’s why he came out and played well.”

Sensible and pleasure rule, right? And one that makes you wonder if it should also be incorporated into the Ryder Cup.

Firstly, it would add some spice to the vice-captain selection (you need at least one ballplayer who is ready to play at short notice), and secondly, it would take away the awkwardness of having to split a crucial Sunday point without playing for it.

If the rule had been in effect at Bethpage, Donald would have had five assistant captains to choose from: Thomas Bjørn, Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Alex Noren and José María Olazábal. And there is little doubt who Donald would have ended up with: Norwegians, who shone in the second half of the season and who many observers believe could have featured as a player in the team.

How great would that have been: a Ryder Cup snub getting a chance at redemption from . . . the Ryder Cup!

I hope the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe take notes this week.

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